Man jailed for attempting to smuggle 95 hand guns into the UK
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson says the guns were viable weapons and had been packaged with thousands of rounds of ammunition.
Wednesday 3 June 2020 12:18, UK
A man has been jailed for more than 15 years after attempting to smuggle 95 hand guns into the UK.
Michael Nicholls, 28, from Slough, conspired with two other men to import the weapons into the country from mainland Europe in 2017.
Stephen Spires, 38, and Denis Kolencukov, 26, were also involved in the plot and were sentenced in March to 26 and 19 years and two months respectively.
Kolencukov was arrested on 1 July 2017 after Border Force officials in France found 79 hand guns with thousands of rounds of ammunition inside a van headed to the UK.
The weapons had been concealed in engine blocks on the trailer of the van, and were found thanks to a tip-off from the Metropolitan Police.
The van was driven by a Polish courier who collected the engines from Kolencukov at the Orlen petrol station in Boleslawiec, Poland, the previous day, unaware the hand guns were inside.
A diary seized from the driver revealed seven other previous importations had been conducted by Kolencukov - all of which were believed to contain firearms and ammunition.
Two days later, Metropolitan Police officers spotted Nicholls and Spires removing items from a shipping container on an industrial estate in Seaborough, Slough.
The pair attempted to escape, but they were stopped by police.
Nine hand guns were discovered stashed in a plastic carrier bag in the van's front passenger foot well, while another was found in the shipping container and a further six were recovered as part of police operations across the UK.
In total, 95 firearms were found.
Nicholls was sentenced to 15 years and six months in prison on Tuesday via video link at Kingston Crown Court.
Detective Chief Inspector Tony O'Sullivan, of the Metropolitan Police, said: "Nicholls is the third and final man to be jailed for this extremely dangerous plot to smuggle 95 lethal firearms into the UK. He was a trusted facilitator within the group who was fully briefed on the scale of the operation.
"As I've said previously, not only were these viable weapons, they were packaged up with thousands of rounds of ammunition, ready to be sold to whomever was willing to buy them.
"Handguns are the most commonly used firearms by criminals in the UK due to them being easily concealable. This investigation prevented a huge haul of them reaching the criminal market."